(The following was published in the Oberlin News-Tribune on 17 June 2008)

The election this fall offers Americans the opportunity to get America out of a new U.S.-powered British empire, but voters will fail again to do so.

We will fail because five billionaires who love the status quo control 90 percent of our mass media. Most of us will vote for one of the war candidates the five billionaires dangle in front of us - the three amigos - John McCain, Barak Obama or Bob Barr.

During the primaries, Rupert Murdoch and the other four billionaires gave little attention to peace candidates in the Democratic and Republican parties. Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul were either ridiculed or ignored. Since most voters rely on the five billionaires for news, it should be no surprised that primary votes for Kucinich and Paul were proportionate to their media exposure.

Recently the five billionaires learned to the same with America's third largest party. Pro-war Bob Barr, a former Republican, became the Libertarian Party's candidate for president in May after Mary Ruwart's historic bid failed. How could a Republican hijack the Libertarian Party and cause some libertarians to resign in disgust? In short, last year Barr recanted his long-held pro-war stance while the five billionaires gave media exposure to Barr's last-minute bid and ignored Ruwart. It seems to many Libertarians are just as easily led as the rest of us.

So far the only anti-war candidate on the Ohio ballot is conservative Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, althought the Green Party will likely nominate former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.